The biblical account of Job is a vexing story of human suffering. Job seems to be a pawn in a game between God and Satan. God first granted Satan permission to test Job but not touch him physically, and then God granted Satan permission to touch Job physically but not take his life. The first thirty-seven chapters of the book of Job record his trials and tribulations. We know that God works all things together for his purpose, but what was the purpose of inflicting such pain and suffering on Job?
To recognize God’s purpose requires viewing reality from God’s perspective, which is challenging. His perspective encompasses the time frame of the metanarrative. This means that God contextualizes everyone and every event into his plan and purpose for history. To be able to see from this perspective requires metaphysical awareness, that is, the ability to look beyond our narcissistic inclinations and see God’s intent and purpose for the events of life.
The first-century apostles of Jesus struggled to see with metaphysical awareness. They had an erroneous view of the Old Testament Scripture based on Jewish tradition that many times consisted of man-made rules. When the ekklesia (the church) was birthed on the day of Pentecost, the Jewish tradition of the apostles still informed their hermeneutic of Old Testament Scripture. To, however, properly understand God’s intent and purpose, they needed renewed minds. This is the purpose, in part, of the New Testament Scripture.
The transitional book of Acts reveals some of the transformed thinking of the first Christians that facilitate a growing capacity to see events from God’s perspective. Acts 10 describes how God transformed Peter’s mind concerning the inclusion of the Gentiles in the New Testament ekklesia. Peter’s testimony of the events he experienced in Corneilus' home (Acts 10) challenged the thinking of his fellow apostles (Acts 11). However, because of his credibility, their thinking was transformed. They began to see more clearly with metaphysical awareness.
Human thoughts about God are never perfect. To some degree, all human thinking is flawed about the nature, plan, and purpose of God. Like the first apostles, our thinking is often shaped by man-made ideas that are incompatible with God's. We need renewed minds to be able to see with increasing metaphysical awareness; albeit while in this existence, we will never achieve full metaphysical awareness. Nevertheless, we must seek renewed minds or we will remain slaves to flawed thinking. Two examples of contemporary flawed thinking are the elevation of secular education and separation of church and state.
Secular education presumes that knowledge exists independent of God. Adam and Eve were the first who presumed that knowledge could be disconnected from God. As their heirs, we humans have adopted their viewpoint. Scripture informs us differently. It says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge” (Proverbs 9:10). In other words, the correct starting point for understanding any topic is God because "in the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1). Scripture, therefore, informs us that secular education is based on an incorrect predicate. Consequently, secular education is a ruse. The assumption of secular education—that true knowledge exists independent of God—is false. All education is based on some view of God. If the view of God is sound, the education will be sound. If the view of God is not sound, then the education will not be sound. Whatever truth might be found in education that claims to be secular is ultimately stolen from God because there is no truth independent of God.
Separation of church and state, as commonly understood today, is also a distortion of truth. Separation of church and state presumes that the state must be protected from the church. It assumes that there is no role for the ekklesia and the Bible in the formation of public policy. This is a distorted understanding of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America (USA) who correctly believed that the ekklesia needed to be protected from the state. Having experienced persecution at the hands of the state church controlled by the king of England, the Founding Fathers were committed to protecting the ekklesia from the tyranny of government control. Therefore, separation of church and state was intended to protect the ekklesia from the state, not vice versa. This means that the state should not be controlling the church, but the ekklesia should be using the Bible to inform the state on matters of public policy.
The Founding Fathers understood that there was a role for the ekklesia to play in informing public policy. Romans 13 teaches that civil rulers are servants (ministers) of God to help citizens align with God (Romans 13:3–4). God defines right and wrong; the proper role of civil authorities is to support God’s definitions. This means that the state should enact and enforce laws that reflect biblical values and principles. In the world today, however, most governments are not looking to Scripture to inform public policy. Therefore, as with education, world governments today make public policy contrary to Scriptural guidance, which is a ruse.
The people of the world tend to think like the governments of the world. The philosophy of many people, if not most, is not informed by Scripture but by fantasies of their minds. The societies of the world are progressively disconnecting from God—the source of all truth—and turning to lies and deception as the basis of their thinking. Needless to say, this will not go well. It would be better to follow the pattern of the first apostles who, when confronted with the folly of their thinking, became silent. They stopped opposing God and surrendered to a sound understanding of Scripture.
Likewise, Job became silent before God about his pain and suffering. At the end of the book of Job, he acknowledged that he had heard of God but now he saw God (Job 42). Job received enhanced revelation through his sufferings: his relationship with God grew as he gained metaphysical awareness of God’s purpose in his afflictions. Growth in knowing God is worth whatever pain and suffering we must endure because the essence of eternal life is knowing God (John 17:3).
The only way to live well in God’s universe is to know God and to grow in relationship with him. The best way to know him is through Scripture, and the right way to live is aligned with Scripture. Any society that repents of its wrong thinking and becomes silent before God, and then returns to Scripture, as the definer of truth and regulator of life, will live well. Such societies will return to biblically based education and public policy informed by Scripture. Then because of alignment with God, there will be divine favor and blessings. This is the only sound way to live in God’s universe.
